Madam, - I refer to Bruce Arnold's testy attack on me (October 20th). I stand over my critique of the Reform Movement, made at the Mansion House meeting on September 18th, in my Sunday Independent article on 10th October and in my response here (October 16th) to Kevin Myers's unfunny remarks about me.
The issues involved are too large to be dealt with in these columns but I should be glad to debate them robustly at length with Bruce Arnold or Kevin Myers in any public forum.
Meanwhile, let me repeat (according to Mr Arnold, "a self-serving view,"?) that in public life I have always actively promoted closer Ireland-UK links and, at various levels, the separation of Church and State.
I tell my friends they should cherish the British side of their heritage. I sing Thora and The Road to Mandalay as readily as Sliabh na mBan and Príosún Chluain Meala. But, given British cultural dominance in Irish life and the present excellent state of London-Dublin relations, I cannot understand the neurotic concern of Reform members that their British identity is under threat or not adequately recognised.
The perception of the Angelus on RTÉ as "a sectarian exercise" (to quote Mr Arnold) is another aspect of Reform neurosis. In fact, in its present diluted-theology format, it is quite innocuous. If it doesn't upset my freethinking mentality, why should it offend Mr Arnold's Protestant sensibilities?
Besides, given the considerable Marian content in the carols and lessons of a Church of Ireland service I attended last Christmas, I doubt if mainstream Protestant opinion finds the Angelus sentiments at all objectionable. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN A. MURPHY. Emeritus Professor of Irish History, University College Cork.